M. Kasiulis
@quasiulysse.bsky.social
Senior Research Scientist in numerical stat mech and optics at NYU | Scicomm enthusiast and Lutetium Project co-founder | Previously Postdoc at Technion, PhD student at Sorbonne U, youngling at ENS and ESPCI.
It is an honor and a pleasure to be spontaneously featured in Optica's official outreach platform!
Many inspiring papers published in Optica's journals were read in the making of this work, so it feels like a nice loop 😄
www.optica-opn.org/home/newsroo...
Many inspiring papers published in Optica's journals were read in the making of this work, so it feels like a nice loop 😄
www.optica-opn.org/home/newsroo...
Gyromorphs Should Block Light in All Directions
Simulated materials yield isotropic band gaps, suggesting use in optical computer chips.
www.optica-opn.org
November 14, 2025 at 10:25 AM
It is an honor and a pleasure to be spontaneously featured in Optica's official outreach platform!
Many inspiring papers published in Optica's journals were read in the making of this work, so it feels like a nice loop 😄
www.optica-opn.org/home/newsroo...
Many inspiring papers published in Optica's journals were read in the making of this work, so it feels like a nice loop 😄
www.optica-opn.org/home/newsroo...
New preprint!
So, say you're studying some critical transition. How do you catch its universality? Pair correlations? Boring!
We threw line segments at the system, looked at intersections with clusters, and uncovered static and dynamical universal behavior of MIPS!
arxiv.org/abs/2511.09444
So, say you're studying some critical transition. How do you catch its universality? Pair correlations? Boring!
We threw line segments at the system, looked at intersections with clusters, and uncovered static and dynamical universal behavior of MIPS!
arxiv.org/abs/2511.09444
a close up of a person 's hand holding a marker that says sharpie
Alt: a close up of a person's hand holding a marker that says sharpie
media.tenor.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:36 PM
New preprint!
So, say you're studying some critical transition. How do you catch its universality? Pair correlations? Boring!
We threw line segments at the system, looked at intersections with clusters, and uncovered static and dynamical universal behavior of MIPS!
arxiv.org/abs/2511.09444
So, say you're studying some critical transition. How do you catch its universality? Pair correlations? Boring!
We threw line segments at the system, looked at intersections with clusters, and uncovered static and dynamical universal behavior of MIPS!
arxiv.org/abs/2511.09444
New paper just out, as an editor's suggestion in PRL!
While looking for the ideal isotropic bandgap material, we actually discovered new structures.
These structures lie at the border between order and disorder, and that's good for optics!
More about their structure here,
tinyurl.com/3aej53ht
⚛️🧪
While looking for the ideal isotropic bandgap material, we actually discovered new structures.
These structures lie at the border between order and disorder, and that's good for optics!
More about their structure here,
tinyurl.com/3aej53ht
⚛️🧪
November 7, 2025 at 4:08 PM
New paper just out, as an editor's suggestion in PRL!
While looking for the ideal isotropic bandgap material, we actually discovered new structures.
These structures lie at the border between order and disorder, and that's good for optics!
More about their structure here,
tinyurl.com/3aej53ht
⚛️🧪
While looking for the ideal isotropic bandgap material, we actually discovered new structures.
These structures lie at the border between order and disorder, and that's good for optics!
More about their structure here,
tinyurl.com/3aej53ht
⚛️🧪
Well, not everyone can get a vote of confidence -- but this paper did! New PNAS, 🔥🔥🔥 hot from the press 🔥🔥🔥
And it is an opportunity to thank my collaborators on this project, special shout-out to Eden+Matan for the experiments on robots that motivated this!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
And it is an opportunity to thank my collaborators on this project, special shout-out to Eden+Matan for the experiments on robots that motivated this!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
A geometric condition for robot-swarm cohesion and cluster–flock transition | PNAS
We present a geometric design rule for size-controlled clustering of self-propelled
particles. We show that active particles that tend to rotate un...
www.pnas.org
September 8, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Well, not everyone can get a vote of confidence -- but this paper did! New PNAS, 🔥🔥🔥 hot from the press 🔥🔥🔥
And it is an opportunity to thank my collaborators on this project, special shout-out to Eden+Matan for the experiments on robots that motivated this!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
And it is an opportunity to thank my collaborators on this project, special shout-out to Eden+Matan for the experiments on robots that motivated this!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by M. Kasiulis
A key difference here is that while either can be incorrect, the structure of Wikipedia *creates context* and the structure of LLMs *destroys context*
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Some of the anti-AI stuff feels a bit like when people would say "don't use Wikipedia as a source." It's just like anything else, a piece of information that you weigh against multiple sources and your own understanding of its likely failure modes
April 26, 2025 at 6:39 PM
A key difference here is that while either can be incorrect, the structure of Wikipedia *creates context* and the structure of LLMs *destroys context*
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Reposted by M. Kasiulis
We need to see science as a social compact where it serves the larger world, not our own interests.
As a first step, scientists must communicate to the larger world much better.
I wrote an essay about this in 2016, which still holds today.
globalecoguy.org/science-comm...
As a first step, scientists must communicate to the larger world much better.
I wrote an essay about this in 2016, which still holds today.
globalecoguy.org/science-comm...
Science Communication as a Moral Imperative
We need to do a much better job of encouraging scientists to be stronger communicators, and share the wonders of science, and the important…
globalecoguy.org
February 10, 2025 at 4:41 PM
We need to see science as a social compact where it serves the larger world, not our own interests.
As a first step, scientists must communicate to the larger world much better.
I wrote an essay about this in 2016, which still holds today.
globalecoguy.org/science-comm...
As a first step, scientists must communicate to the larger world much better.
I wrote an essay about this in 2016, which still holds today.
globalecoguy.org/science-comm...
Ok, last update: how to make isotropic bandgaps? At low index contrast, the answer is aperiodic structures, e.g. quasicrystals. We propose that the best material would have a structure factor as close as possible to being just one ring of high values: enter gyromorphs. arxiv.org/abs/2410.09023
November 20, 2024 at 4:25 PM
Ok, last update: how to make isotropic bandgaps? At low index contrast, the answer is aperiodic structures, e.g. quasicrystals. We propose that the best material would have a structure factor as close as possible to being just one ring of high values: enter gyromorphs. arxiv.org/abs/2410.09023
Next up: for a change of scenery, let's look at energy landscapes! We showed that numerical commonly used to study the location, energy, and entropic bias of minima in jammed soft spheres completely destroy the geometry of the landscape, and provide an alternative.
arxiv.org/abs/2409.121...
arxiv.org/abs/2409.121...
November 19, 2024 at 5:25 PM
Next up: for a change of scenery, let's look at energy landscapes! We showed that numerical commonly used to study the location, energy, and entropic bias of minima in jammed soft spheres completely destroy the geometry of the landscape, and provide an alternative.
arxiv.org/abs/2409.121...
arxiv.org/abs/2409.121...
Ok let's keep going with updates! This time no point patterns, only robots 🤖
We show that it really matters how their mass is distributed to know how they behave as a collective... Depending on whether they have a heavy head or a heavy back, robots flock or cluster!
arxiv.org/html/2409.04...
We show that it really matters how their mass is distributed to know how they behave as a collective... Depending on whether they have a heavy head or a heavy back, robots flock or cluster!
arxiv.org/html/2409.04...
A geometric condition for robot-swarm cohesion and cluster-flock transition
arxiv.org
November 18, 2024 at 4:42 PM
Ok let's keep going with updates! This time no point patterns, only robots 🤖
We show that it really matters how their mass is distributed to know how they behave as a collective... Depending on whether they have a heavy head or a heavy back, robots flock or cluster!
arxiv.org/html/2409.04...
We show that it really matters how their mass is distributed to know how they behave as a collective... Depending on whether they have a heavy head or a heavy back, robots flock or cluster!
arxiv.org/html/2409.04...
Oh and actually, I almost forgot, I will be in Paris this December to talk about spectrally-shaped point patterns, FReSCo, and hyperuniformity at the Hyperuniformity workshop organized by Inria!
hyperuniformity.sciencesconf.org
hyperuniformity.sciencesconf.org
a nun in front of a chalkboard with the words we are going to france
Alt: A nun in front of a chalkboard with the words we are going to France. Like me. In December. I'm going to France. The land of baguettes, PNL, and Inria workshops. So uh, if you are in Paris and want to say hello and/or talk about my work please reach out!
media.tenor.com
November 12, 2024 at 10:01 PM
Oh and actually, I almost forgot, I will be in Paris this December to talk about spectrally-shaped point patterns, FReSCo, and hyperuniformity at the Hyperuniformity workshop organized by Inria!
hyperuniformity.sciencesconf.org
hyperuniformity.sciencesconf.org
Ok so it's been an eventful couple of months or so for me! Let's recap a bit. First, our work on spectral optimization of point patterns is actually out as an Editor's Suggestion in PRE!
If you care about correlated disorder, this is probably a good read!
journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...
If you care about correlated disorder, this is probably a good read!
journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...
Fast generation of spectrally shaped disorder
Systems with correlated disorder can display unusual optical properties, but it is a challenge to design such structures with desired long-range correlations. The authors introduce an efficient algori...
journals.aps.org
November 12, 2024 at 9:17 PM
Ok so it's been an eventful couple of months or so for me! Let's recap a bit. First, our work on spectral optimization of point patterns is actually out as an Editor's Suggestion in PRE!
If you care about correlated disorder, this is probably a good read!
journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...
If you care about correlated disorder, this is probably a good read!
journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...
Hey everyone!
I decided I would come back on social media a bit more in the near future, partly because I am now on the ✨Job Market✨
Since I had left the bad place for good already I took the time to re-follow a lot of you.
I hope we can rebuild a vibrant interdisciplinary academic community here!
I decided I would come back on social media a bit more in the near future, partly because I am now on the ✨Job Market✨
Since I had left the bad place for good already I took the time to re-follow a lot of you.
I hope we can rebuild a vibrant interdisciplinary academic community here!
a cartoon of a robot with the words time to research above it
Alt: a cartoon of a robot with the words time to research above it
media.tenor.com
November 7, 2024 at 4:54 PM
Hey everyone!
I decided I would come back on social media a bit more in the near future, partly because I am now on the ✨Job Market✨
Since I had left the bad place for good already I took the time to re-follow a lot of you.
I hope we can rebuild a vibrant interdisciplinary academic community here!
I decided I would come back on social media a bit more in the near future, partly because I am now on the ✨Job Market✨
Since I had left the bad place for good already I took the time to re-follow a lot of you.
I hope we can rebuild a vibrant interdisciplinary academic community here!
Hey, ever wanted to make point patterns or particle packings but with that one specific kind of correlation you care about? Worry not, FReSCo is now officially out there on GitHub!
github.com/martiniani-l...
github.com/martiniani-l...
December 19, 2023 at 6:42 PM
Hey, ever wanted to make point patterns or particle packings but with that one specific kind of correlation you care about? Worry not, FReSCo is now officially out there on GitHub!
github.com/martiniani-l...
github.com/martiniani-l...
Is that... a paper update? 👀
After months of extra work, our FReSCo framework to embed arbitrary spectral properties into point patterns has greatly expanded!
Threads aren't a thing here so I'll be short: dynamics of points go CHOO CHOO in Fourier space! 🚂
shorturl.at/fjkn6
arxiv.org/abs/2305.15693
After months of extra work, our FReSCo framework to embed arbitrary spectral properties into point patterns has greatly expanded!
Threads aren't a thing here so I'll be short: dynamics of points go CHOO CHOO in Fourier space! 🚂
shorturl.at/fjkn6
arxiv.org/abs/2305.15693
The Arrival of a Train in Fourier Space
Frames from the Lumière movie L’Arrivée d’un Train en Gare de La Ciotat (1896), imposed into the structure factor of a pattern of N=300,000 points using FReS...
shorturl.at
December 15, 2023 at 3:21 PM
Is that... a paper update? 👀
After months of extra work, our FReSCo framework to embed arbitrary spectral properties into point patterns has greatly expanded!
Threads aren't a thing here so I'll be short: dynamics of points go CHOO CHOO in Fourier space! 🚂
shorturl.at/fjkn6
arxiv.org/abs/2305.15693
After months of extra work, our FReSCo framework to embed arbitrary spectral properties into point patterns has greatly expanded!
Threads aren't a thing here so I'll be short: dynamics of points go CHOO CHOO in Fourier space! 🚂
shorturl.at/fjkn6
arxiv.org/abs/2305.15693
Very nice illustration and proof that high-dimensional basins of attraction are shaped like urchins today on the cover of PRL! journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...
Nice throwback to our perspective on how to compute their volumes too! More on that soon™️ 👀
www.papersinphysics.org/papersinphys...
Nice throwback to our perspective on how to compute their volumes too! More on that soon™️ 👀
www.papersinphysics.org/papersinphys...
Star-Shaped Space of Solutions of the Spherical Negative Perceptron
The solutions of a nonconvex over-parametrized neural network model are geodesically connected in a star-shaped geometry.
journals.aps.org
December 4, 2023 at 5:17 PM
Very nice illustration and proof that high-dimensional basins of attraction are shaped like urchins today on the cover of PRL! journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...
Nice throwback to our perspective on how to compute their volumes too! More on that soon™️ 👀
www.papersinphysics.org/papersinphys...
Nice throwback to our perspective on how to compute their volumes too! More on that soon™️ 👀
www.papersinphysics.org/papersinphys...
A last look at the Alps after a fantastic two weeks at Les Houches -- with a nice Kelvin-Helmholtz instability waving goodbye 🌊
Kudos to the organizers, it's been a fantastic two weeks!
Kudos to the organizers, it's been a fantastic two weeks!
October 1, 2023 at 9:29 AM
A last look at the Alps after a fantastic two weeks at Les Houches -- with a nice Kelvin-Helmholtz instability waving goodbye 🌊
Kudos to the organizers, it's been a fantastic two weeks!
Kudos to the organizers, it's been a fantastic two weeks!
After a few years away from both Europe and optics, what better way to reconnect than going to Les Houches? 😄🏔️
And yes, spoiler alert, photonics is coming back to my research very soon 👀
And yes, spoiler alert, photonics is coming back to my research very soon 👀
September 19, 2023 at 12:15 PM
After a few years away from both Europe and optics, what better way to reconnect than going to Les Houches? 😄🏔️
And yes, spoiler alert, photonics is coming back to my research very soon 👀
And yes, spoiler alert, photonics is coming back to my research very soon 👀
Reposted by M. Kasiulis
If astronomers truly believe “the night sky belongs to everyone,” we should honor that ideal when naming objects in the cosmos. Our job is to tell the Universe's story, and as with all stories, the way we tell it matters, Mia de los Reyes @amherstcollege.bsky.social. physics.aps.org/articles/v16...
Astronomers Need to Rename the Magellanic Clouds
A coalition of astronomers calls for renaming the Milky Way’s two brightest satellite galaxies, along with other astronomical objects and facilities that bear the name of a Portuguese explorer who m...
physics.aps.org
September 12, 2023 at 4:05 PM
If astronomers truly believe “the night sky belongs to everyone,” we should honor that ideal when naming objects in the cosmos. Our job is to tell the Universe's story, and as with all stories, the way we tell it matters, Mia de los Reyes @amherstcollege.bsky.social. physics.aps.org/articles/v16...
You may know that 2d solids are almost a field of their own... But it gets even crazier with activity! Find out how activity shatters equilibrium bounds in a great piece of work now out in PRL - or in my first commentary in Physics Magazine 🤗
physics.aps.org/articles/v16...
physics.aps.org/articles/v16...
Active Particles Push the Boundaries of Two-Dimensional Solids
Active particles can form two-dimensional solids that are different from those formed by nonmotile particles, showing long-range crystalline order accompanied by giant spontaneous deformations.
physics.aps.org
September 5, 2023 at 4:39 PM
You may know that 2d solids are almost a field of their own... But it gets even crazier with activity! Find out how activity shatters equilibrium bounds in a great piece of work now out in PRL - or in my first commentary in Physics Magazine 🤗
physics.aps.org/articles/v16...
physics.aps.org/articles/v16...
Hello world! You may know me from The Bad Place, I will likely move my main research and Scicomm updates here, I'm excited to see how this platform will evolve 😄
September 5, 2023 at 4:38 PM
Hello world! You may know me from The Bad Place, I will likely move my main research and Scicomm updates here, I'm excited to see how this platform will evolve 😄